Scope

Chemistry Education Research and Practice (CERP) is the journal for teachers, researchers and other practitioners at all levels of chemistry education. It is published free of charge, electronically, four times a year; coverage includes the following.

Research, and reviews of research, in chemistry education

Evaluations of effective innovative practice in the teaching of chemistry

In-depth analyses of issues of direct relevance to chemistry education

The objectives of the journal follow.

To provide researchers with the means to publish their work in full in a journal exclusively dedicated to chemistry education

To offer teachers of chemistry at all levels a place where they can share effective ideas and methods for the teaching and learning of chemistry

Most importantly, to bridge the gap between the two groups so that researchers will have their results seen by those who could benefit from using them, and practitioners will gain from encountering the ideas and results of those who have made a particular study of the learning process

In addition to the regular issues, there is a themed issue (PDF) every year dealing with a particular aspect of chemistry education.

Editorial board

Keith S Taber, Editor, University of Cambridge, UK

Ingo Eilks, Chair, University of Bremen, Germany

George Bodner, Purdue University, US

Loretta L Jones, University of Northern Colorado, US

Claire McDonnell, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland

David McGarvey, Keele University, UK

Vicente Talanquer, University of Arizona, US

Daniel Tan, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

David F Treagust, Curtin University of Technology, Australia

Advisory board

Bill Byers, University of Ulster, UK

Melanie Cooper, Michigan State University, US

Iztok Devetak, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Onno de Jong, University of Utrecht, Netherlands

Daniel S. Domin, Dominican University, US

Jan H. van Driel, Leiden University, The Netherlands

Odilla Finlayson, Dublin City University, Ireland

Avi Hofstein, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel

Alex H. Johnstone, University of Glasgow, UK

Ajda Kahveci, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Turkey

Orla Catherine Kelly, Church of Ireland College of Education, Ireland

Iwona Maciejowska, Jagiellonian University, Poland

Rachel Mamlok-Naaman, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel

Canan Nakiboglu, Balikesir University, Turkey

Mansoor Niaz, Universidad de Oriente, Venezuela

MaryKay Orgill, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, US

Tina L. Overton, University of Hull, UK

George Papageorgiou, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece

Ilka Parchmann, University of Kiel, Germany

Norman Reid, University of Glasgow, UK

Susan Rodrigues, University of Northumbria, UK

Michael Seery, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland

Zoltán Toth, University of Debrecen, Hungary

Georgios Tsaparlis (Founding Editor), University of Ioannina, Greece

Inbal Tuvi-Arad, The Open University of Israel, Israel

Gabriela C. Weaver, Purdue University, US

Uri Zoller, Haifa University, Israel

Editorial office

Karen J Ogilvie, Managing Editor

Lucy Gilbert, Editorial Production Manager

Ziva Whitelock, Publishing Editor

Journal specific guidelines

The intended emphasis is on the process of learning, not on the content. Contributions describing alternative ways of presenting chemical information to students (including the description of new demonstrations or laboratory experiments or computer simulations or animations) are unlikely to be considered for publication.

All contributions should be written in clear and concise English. Technical language should be kept to the absolute minimum required by accuracy. Authors are urged to pay particular attention to the way references are cited both in the text and in the bibliography.

First to provide researchers a means to publish high quality, fully peer reviewed, educational research reports in the special domain of chemistry education. The studies reported should have all features of scholarship in chemistry education, that is they must be:

original and previously unpublished

theory based

supported by empirical data

of generalisable character.

The last requirement means that the studies should have an interest for and an impact on the global practice of chemistry, and not be simply of a regional character. Contributions must include a review of the research literature relevant to the topic, and state clearly the way(s) the study contributes to our knowledge base. Last but not least, they should conclude with implications for other research and/or the practice of chemistry teaching.

Secondto offer practitioners (teachers of chemistry at all levels) a place where they can share effective ideas and methods for the teaching and learning of chemistry and issues related to these, including assessment.

The emphasis is on effectiveness, the demonstration that the approach described is successful, possibly more so than the alternatives. Contributions are particularly welcome if the subject matter can be applied widely and is concerned with encouraging active, independent or cooperative learning.

Of special interest are methods that increase student motivation for learning, and those that help them to become effective exploiters of their chemical knowledge and understanding. It is highly desirable that such contributions should be demonstrably based, wherever possible, on established educational theory and results.

Third to help to bridge the gap between educational researchers and practitioners by providing a single platform where both groups can publish high-quality papers with the realistic hope that researchers will find their results seen by those who could benefit from using them.

Also, practitioners will gain from encountering the ideas and results of those who have made a particular study of the learning process in finding better ways to improve their teaching and the learning experience of their students.

Submission

Articles should be submitted using ScholarOne, the Royal Society of Chemistry's article review and submission system. A printed copy of the manuscript will not be required. Your submission will be acknowledged as soon as possible.

Exceptions to normal Royal Society of Chemistry policy

Submissions to Chemistry Education Research and Practice do not require a table of contents entry; however, a list of keywords should be given to assist indexing services and to identify the main issues and methods discussed in the article.

Submissions to the journal should use Harvard referencing.

Citations in the text should therefore be made by use of the surname of the author(s) and the year of the publication, at the appropriate place. Note that with one or two authors the name(s) are given, while if the source has three or more authors, it is cited with the first named author as 'Author et al.'

When more than one source is cited in the text, they should be listed in chronological and then alphabetical order for example, '(Jones, 2001; Smith, 2001; Adams, 2006)'. The references themselves are given at the end of the final printed text, in alphabetical and, if the same author is cited more than once, chronological order.

An example of a journal article reference as it would be presented is Taber K. S., (2015), Advancing chemistry education as a field, Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 16(1), 6–8.

Readership information

Chemical education researchers and teachers of chemistry in universities and schools

Subscription information

Chemistry Education Research and Practice is free to access thanks to sponsorship by the Royal Society of Chemistry's Education Division